Middlesbrough - Sheffield United

[Slipperduke]

Right, leaving aside that this is a really, really bad game, who on earth is screaming every time the ball goes in United's box? It's really starting to hack me off.

Calm down, love. It's only Middlesbrough.

I've got to get 750 words out of this pile of ****.

 

[Bluesmanager]

So, who's up for some paint watching then? :p

 

[TBV_Dan]

What's the score, or have people got better things to do than watch that game, like watching paint dry or watching the inside of their eyelids?

 

[TBV_Dan]

Zzzzzzzzzzz...

 

[TBV_Dan]

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

 

[Slipperduke]

Yes, I concur. Mind you, it got more interesting when the cameraman stuck his microphone into Kevin Blackwell's teamtalk.

"Have we ****ing come all this way for ****ing nothing?!"

Have we, indeed.

 

[Che's Left Foot]

Quality goal by Kenny

 

[Slipperduke]

That, I'm afraid, sums the entire game up.

 

[Che's Left Foot]

what an AVERAGE match.

 

[mattytheshrimper]

got to admire beaties tackle just a second ago. ran the whole length of the pitch after 100 mins to save a certain goal. oh well boro won.

 

[Slipperduke]

I think it’s about time we changed the rules of the FA Cup. If we’re going to debate 39th games and retrospective punishements all the time then I think it’s only fair that we make a little bit of room for the nation’s oldest and grandest competition. How does this grab you? If two teams cannot, in 180 minutes of ineptitude, manage to score a single goal between them, be it a 40 yard piledriver or a critical deflection off a rogue buttock, they will both be eliminated from the competition and replaced by one of the many league teams struggling in administration. In accordance with these new rules, Sheffield United and Middlesbrough will now be disqualified and replaced by Luton Town, who could do with the money. Much better, don’t you think?

I’m not exaggerating, this was a dreadful, dreadful game. Some 28,000 people paid almost SG$75 and stood in the cold for this rubbish. Worryingly, on the few occasions that the ball was played into Sheffield United’s penalty area, a woman in the crowd screamed in anguish. After twenty minutes of this game, I started to join in. It was hysteria brought about by abject boredom.

Neither team seemed able to keep the ball for more than 15 seconds at a time and it was only fitting that this turgid affair was, after 204 minutes, settled by one of the most ludicrous goals I’ve seen all season. Mido’s snapshot was deflected off the arms of Chris Morgan, into the ground, over Paddy Kenny and onto the post. Kenny sat dumbfounded as the ball rebounded back towards him and, in thrusting out an arm to catch it, punched it into his own goal. It was the kind of goal that should be accompanied by circus music and custard pies.

Stewart Downing signed a five year contract this week which, on the basis of this performance, seems like turning up at the front-gate of Alcatraz and enquiring about a bed for the night. Why would you stick around for more of this? There’s so much to admire about Middlesbrough; their patient, intelligent chairman; the likeable Gareth Southgate; their outstanding youth policy. Why can’t they just play some decent football occasionally?

Southgate has just splashed out SG$36m on Alfonso Alves in an effort to give his team more bite and the early signs are at least encouraging. The Brazilian frontman scored goals at a ludicrous rate in Holland and he gave the long-suffering home fans a couple of signs of things they hope will come with some energetic running and quality touches. He should have scored from an unopposed header in the first half and, had he done, we might all have been spared from a hideous game of football.

Sheffield United’s game plan appeared to be to bore Middlesbrough to sleep and then score while they snored. Had Middlesbrough been capable of stringing more than 5 passes together, it might have been different, but on a night when possession was as rare a commodity as excitement, the game started off badly and went downhill from there.

Middlesbrough now face Cardiff in the Quarter-Finals of an increasingly strange FA Cup. Only four Premier League teams remain. Making up the numbers are Cardiff, Barnsley, West Bromwich Albion and Bristol Rovers who, in this unfamiliar territory, now look like fresh-faced schoolboys who have sneaked into a pub for an illicit drink. It seems only a matter of time before they get booted out.

Personally, I hope one of them goes all the way and wins it. I’d love to see the old competition shaken up by a surprise winner. Mind you, I’d settle for seeing anything right now, as long as it isn’t a re-run of this godforsaken game.

 

[Up the Shrimpers]

what an AVERAGE match.

What a below average match!!!

One thing is for sure the Riverside will be rocking with 5,000 plus Cardiff fans in a couple of weeks time, it sounded so quiet (even worse than Roots Hall).

 

[SUFCEssex]

awful game bar the beatie tackle at the end.

 

[BILLERICAY BLUE]

Slip, did 28,000 pay a total of SG$75 ?? :)

Bloody good read again though !

 

[Slipperduke]

Slip, did 28,000 pay a total of SG$75 ?? :)

Bloody good read again though !

If they had, it would still have been over-priced!

 

[Pubey]

if there is anything more boring than a dull football match... it's the commentators droning on about how rubbish it is.

 

[MrB]

I got home, switched the TV on, saw Kenny's own goal, laughed a bit, switched the TV off and went and did something else. Sounds like I caught the right minute!

 

[sufcintheprem]

The game was so bad that I've turned the TV off work for fear of being hypnotised in to yet again watching that dross. I couldn't work out whether I was more disappointed in Middlesbrough for final third panic or Sheffield United for seemingly trying to earn another replay. You're one nil down with five minutes to goin a cup game Mr Kilgallon - why don't you consider taking the free-kick or maybe tossing it to the keeper!

I think my most crestfallen moment was when I got excited by Shelton coming on thinking he'll mix it up a bit only for the ball to almost clear the stand. Can't blame the ball for trying.

 

[Pubey]

The game was so bad that I've turned the TV off work for fear of being hypnotised in to yet again watching that dross. I couldn't work out whether I was more disappointed in Middlesbrough for final third panic or Sheffield United for seemingly trying to earn another replay. You're one nil down with five minutes to goin a cup game Mr Kilgallon - why don't you consider taking the free-kick or maybe tossing it to the keeper!

I think my most crestfallen moment was when I got excited by Shelton coming on thinking he'll mix it up a bit only for the ball to almost clear the stand. Can't blame the ball for trying.

Shelton is a complete donkey... he makes Wayne Gray look like a powerful and composed striker!